Numb as Ice
by IcedSoulFairy
Summary: AU. Set in the real world where magic doesn't exist: Erza is trying to cope with his (hitman) lover's unusual habits and lifestyle. Chapter 4: What will Erza do when all was said and done? Erza tries to comfort a lost-in-the-past Gray.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Numb as Ice  
**Summary: **Okay. This is a sequel to my previous story "Daylight" an AU where Gray and Erza's lives where set in the real world. Erza's a pastry shop owner, and Gray's a hitman. Well, it's better you read the previous strory first. If yo did. Great! Basically , it starts where the last story left off.  
**A/N**: Yes! I Finally got to squeeze this in to my busy life. But I'm so saaad.. Saaad, because I've missed the GrayZa week so baaad. I guess this should make up for my crushed feels. Ouch. But anyway, I dunno when I'll be back again, but expect that I'm still into this fandom~ Hurraaaah.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its Characters. Come on, Ive done this many times before, right?**

* * *

He comes home back that midnight, when the wind outside was at its coldest and the streets were empty and silent.

Erza doesn't leave the doors unlocked; she knows he can handle them so easily. She is worried, yes. That doesn't mean she's lost trust in his promise as she clutches the necklace on her check. The sword or a cross that Erza always felt to be her lucky charm and guardian.

She sleeps at night, thinking of him and his safety, but keeps the hope that he will return to her.

She trusts him, of course.

So when she feels the familiar cat-like steps on her doorstep, Erza's spirit lifted up as she immediately straightened herself and went to the front door.  
She finds him there, eyes surprised by a little of how the redhead knew he was coming.  
"I'm the one who should be making that face, you pervert." Erza makes a comment as he welcomed the man in; his suit ruined and stained of blood.

A pregnant pause. Erza lets the other man relax in her atmosphere. Just like the last time.

Gray doesn't speak for a while. He just lay there on the couch, head down and thinking deeply. Erza walks out the living room and then comes back with her medical tools She wouldn't miss the large gash on his side and the bleeding cut on the cheeks.

Gray flinched a bit at the contact of sudden coolness and sting of the water on his face. "Don't move." she commands as the renowned "Titania of the Fairy Tail Hills".  
"You sure look like you've had a tough time out there..." Erza carefully treated the man, asking him to strip his clothes so she can do the treatment.

"They were just lucky." he whispers. It looked like he was starved.

Erza was used to this. The smell of blood and gunpowder, of traces of tensed emotions trailing the other from behind, of violence written by the other's figure. After all, it had been a couple of times she did this to him every time he comes home to her flat from his 'job'.

Erza knows, and is well-prepared for that. He feeds the man, who is looking pale than the usual with anything nutritious inside the fridge.

He really needs to eat more.

Unknowingly, Erza was caught staring at Gray and was shot back with a carefree smirk. "Oh, look who's the pervert now..."

Right. That idiot.

"You moron. I was just thinking... Have you always looked this pale? I mean not in the very handsome way. It looks to me more like threatening."

Gray just smirked at her response. "So you do stare at me like the pervert you always accuse me with.-"

"I do not!"

"Do."

"Don't!"

"You do."

"I don't! And don't dare try to change the subject here, Fullbuster. I'm just concerned here!"

Gray stared and formed a devious smile on his face, "Tch. Does that really matter?" he says, scoffing.

"You matter." Erza stated firmly.  
Gray's eyes widened at the slightest, and then found it in him to scoff at the serious tone she made, "Pfft. I live in the shadows quite literally. What do you expect?"

"When was the last time you ever are a descent meal?" she said nonetheless. The raven's figure sure was muscular enough, but then it struck to her how much lifelessness it held. It scares her.

No answer.

Something in Erza clicked that early dawn. Gray's life had been really hard on him. His childhood, she didn't even know if he ever had one. Gray was supposed to be younger than her by a year, but his cold and mature demeanor really made him a lot older and the wiser. He had learned to isolate himself in a thick, cold ice to keep others away. Erza doesn't want that.

It reminds her of her old self.

Later, when the sun began to rise, they decided to go to bed, all the while Erza keeping an eye on Gray who looked more weary than usual; the bags on his eyes doubled, and the lack of response from his usual old self.  
It took a while for the red head to approach the raven who has been lying with his back facing her on the other side of the bed. It took a moment's hesitation of Erza snaking both hands on his head and Gray willingly complied to rest on the scarlet's thighs, eyelids heaving through Erza's gentle touches and pats on the messed up raven hair.

"What's on your mind?" she said. Erza feels she had just hit the spot.

"He... Has a daughter..." she keeps steady.

"I know what you mean. Gray, how many times do I have to tell you-"

"It's not like I'm not listening, Erza... Sometimes, I really don't know what's right anymore.", he bit his lip in silent grief and Erza's wondered how many times did he ever bit his lip: she sees confusion in those eyes, guilt in those acts.

She replied with a gentle pat on his head, "I know... I know. I've been there, Gray... But my mom always told me..." she smoothes the traces of Gray's chest.  
"To always feel here whenever everything fails you." then she kissed his forehead with the slightest pressure, feeling the man's consciousness drift from her.

"But I...I don't know if... I still know how to feel..." Gray replies in a sleepy, musky voice as he barely kept awake.

Erza's heart clenched. Sometimes, as how she always came to acknowledge the maturity in Gray's age she can't help but observe how the younger man seldom act with the innocence from the childhood. The childhood he forced to skip to make him a man.

Innocence, in many forms like simple questions that she herself doesn't know how to answer either; it aches her to see how much he's suffering even without himself noticing.

It's terrible.

Finally she answers in a soft smile, "Idiot, then why are you here with me?" but she thinks Gray already slept. Tomorrow, or as soon as he recovers, Erza is sure to make it her mission to break Gray's cold ice.

* * *

By the way, I'm thinking to make this a full-story if I have time. But for now, I'd like you to think this as a oneshot. Depends on the feedback.

**Reviews are treats!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi guys! I'm baaaack. So now that I'm continuing this story, I decided to make this story of how Erza will be able to cope with Gray's unusual lifestyle and pasts.**

**Chapter Summary: **Of how scarlet fire melts a hitman's heart: Erza wants to give Gray something he missed his whole life.

**Warnings:** Wrong grammars, misspellings, and all.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything.

* * *

There's a loud thud Erza heard from upstairs, then shuffling, and the sound of struggling to free itself from something. When the door opened, she acted oblivious to all of it.

Gray's morning always starts as soon as he wakes up in the morning, head a few centimeters hanging from the ground and ends up hitting it, then there were the sheets which certainly loved to strangle him to death every time. And then the missing clothes,

"..Erza...-Oomph!-" Gray blinked at the thing thrown to his face first thing in the morning.

"I told you to stop stripping!" Gray mutters something along the lines of demon redheads and thankfully Erza acts on deaf ears while he struggles to put on his clothes and ends up stumbling downstairs.

Erza failed to hide a chuckle, "Seriously, Fullbuster. Does this morning routine really a part of your training?"

Gray retorts back an angry no, to which Erza only waved off as she watched the younger man finally finished dressing himself and sitting on the counter table.

"What's that-smell?" Gray tries not to offend the scarlet.

"Pancakes."

_Ohmyglobno_. The last time Gray ever ate Erza's pancakes was worse than being poisoned."You know what Erza, sit down here." she grabs the back of her apron and carries her to a chair on a table. "I'll cook." He says.

Erza whined and pouted but as soon as she smelled that delicious aroma filling the kitchen, she had to admit that Gray's cooking is way, way better than her. "Hmmph."

A hot cocoa and omelet rice made in just 5 minutes. Damn, how good can this guy get? All the while, Gray stares at her eating her share. This is one of the things he wanted to keep and protect.

* * *

...and sometimes, Gray would really wonder how he ever got attracted to this scarlet whom he heard to be the famous "Titania of the Fairy Tail Hills", because the moment he saw the devious smile on the Titania's face, he really doesn't what to know what's going to happen to him.

"E-Erza..Where are we going?"

"Somewhere."

"A-aren't you gonna go to your shop?"

"I already called Lucy to handle it for the whole day."

And then, Gray's adventures began. Dragged unceremoniously, and getting stuck to every shop they meet along the way, they ended up in front of the biggest arcade in the FT Hills. Erza's eyes gleamed like a child and Gray isn't sure he wanted to go inside. He tried to walk away.

"No can do, Fullbuster. We're going inside." she says in a very dangerous tone.

"Um. No thanks!?-"

No. He ended up dragged inside anyway.

"Here ya go, enjoy!" the lady in the counter said and Erza began her plan.

Erza loves arcades; it's like everybody's childhood. Here, she can beat boys in any games: shooting, battle, racing, name it. "Come on, let's try this." she says to the raven. Gray looked pale and uneasy, and there's a predatory glow behind those black orbs.

And there's something in Gray's grip that somehow clenches her heart, too. Erza tries to reassure the other man with her smile. And basing the way Gray's features loosened, it worked.

"You see, you have to press this button to make an attack, and move the joystick-thingy, and make a combo attack and then-"

"Like this?" the screen glowed and showed two different scores. Gray won.

"Hah. See if you can beat me to racing!" A minute passes. It's clear to Erza's expression who won. "Sweet." Gray taunted the lost scarlet.

Nevertheless to say, Gray also won the shoot-the-zombie game, too. Duh.

Here's the catch, the last game was to shoot three-point shots into the ring and the one who gets the most points, wins.

Erza was the Varsity player in the college days and had the position as the center.

Gray loved challenges. It makes his blood rushing with excitement.

And so, just a few minutes later, the crowd went thick in the arcade to see how two adults are so worked up in the game, you could almost see their auras clashing.

* * *

"Come on! It's the premier of the movie I wanted to watch!"

"Wait-"

After 3 hours of screaming and laughing and tearing up, Gray looked just the same with the usual apathetic gaze, he was even mistaken for an undead.

"Really, what was that about..." he mutters, with his hand still held by the scarlet who was finding an exit with the crowd.

And the lucky stars might have abandoned him, Gray and Erza was then stuck in a couple's race." Wanna see who's the fastest, Fullbuster?"

"You bet, Scarlet."

The couples who joined the race swore they were scarred for life the moment they saw two blazing auras running such demonic speed and leaving a fog of dust on their trail. "Wh-what kind of couple...are they?"

* * *

"I'm tireeeed."

"Ready for the next stop?"

"Wait-what?-" Before Gray knew it; they were now at the huge entrance, "Welcome to the Fairy Carnival"

Gray's eyes widened, "You've got to be kidding me. We're not kids anymore, Erza."

Scarlet hair danced by the wind as he watched her glitter and he was caught by her charm.  
"We don't want to waste the prizes we got earlier, do we?" Gray let out a groan, but was then caught speechless. "Besides, nobody said we can't be kids for a while." Erza smiled and Gray's heart melted.

But there's this uncomfortable feeling that's unsettling him whenever he gets too close with a crowd of people. He feels uneasy getting contact with other people, except when he's about to plant a bullet to their head, and except for the few people whom he knows.

He's afraid. Maybe. He's scared what would happen then. His hands were made to hurt, he thinks after all.

Unconsciously, the grip on the redhead's hand tightened as he thought about these things. But Erza returned each with the slightest pressure of reassurance.

* * *

It's late in the evening when they decided to end their little adventure. After going through every shop there existed in FT Hills, conquering the arcade, ruling over the Carnival, running along with the kids at the park after that, and racing down the Fairy Hills with a rented bike; Gray and Erza lay beaten beside the cool river just a few minutes walk from the city.

"Why here?" he said.

"This...is a special place for me...although I can't really remember why." she replied.

They talked on and on, reminisced, joked, and laughed about the whole day, and perhaps it was the most genuine laugh Erza ever heard from Gray.

Erza recalled, seeing the way his hold had just become a little more loose, looks a little more trusting, and uneasiness a little more soothed and relaxed. The way his eyes glowed like a child when he first entered the carnival, even if he refused to admit it so, or the way he's unconsciously acting with a child-like innocence for everything that's his first; The way he finally laughs in the air like he cares less for the people staring at him, or how he's first reluctant in getting closer to young and cute kids but eventually shows off his softer side.

Needless to say, today Erza was satisfied just see that child-like grin on the usual scowling male, happiness and amusement written all over his face like a kid who had just experienced his first carousel ride.

His childhood memories would've been like this. And Erza wants to create one for him even if it's a little late because she doesn't want him to skip that part forever. She wants to see his true smile without pretending, hear his genuine laughs and not stiff replies or sarcasms.

For Gray, somehow a part of him was filled. Finally, through the years, he feels inside of him got less empty. And some part of him got warmer.  
The feeling was odd and it freaked him out at first, but as the day went on he realized it was far greater feeling than what he usually feels after cocking the gun or slitting someone's throat.

He realized the warmth was so far from the temporary numbness he feels after each job.

Erza had broken the ice wall inside him and replaced it with a blanket of heat and warmth.

And somehow, this river also gave something to him. Something that tugged a piece of his soul and drew him near. A distant memory or imagination perhaps. Gray doesn't know.

Gray kissed Erza that night, full on the lips and muttered a shy but sweet thank you. It's all Erza needed to hear. But to Gray, it will take all of the words he can't say to express the gratefulness of the lessons he had learned from her today.

* * *

**Shoutouts to LaynieCakes, Ein011, and TsundereFairy, and AsDarknessSpreads for encouraging me to continue the story! I loveee you guys! I hope it satisfies you. This ain't over yet :D see ya when I'll see ya!**

**Hint: Next chapter will be about how Erza's reaction to Gray's natural predatory instincts.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Summary**: If they haven't had that argument, Erza wouldn't know how much he cared.

**Warnings:** **Errors, curses and mentions of violence**. I do not put this without reason okay?

**Disclaimer:** Here we go again. I don't own any of the characters or the anime.

* * *

Erza thinks it's annoying.

It could've been a normal, working day in her shop with her coworkers and girl friends. She could've been at her usual self of serving her customers sincerely just like she always does; and perhaps she would've felt so relaxed in her own domain where she can bake to her heart's extent.

She sighs and waved to Lucy and Mirajane that she'll be back in a minute. She wouldn't make it obvious, but the scarlet knows.

She shuts the back door.

"You're too trusting."

She sighed for the nth time, "Gray, I hope you understand this but, I can't be sure if it's a good thing that you're like a loyal dog protecting me and the others at the shop that you start to act like a mad dog glaring daggers at almost every customer that enters the shop."

"Did you think I didn't see it?" she continues.

"People are dirtier than you think, Erza. I'm just saying you're trusting too much." Gray knows he can't win this argument with her, did he ever win one? He can't remember that one time.

"And you doubt too much. Why don't you see the good in people for once?" she crosses her arms in irritation.

He tried, of course. But he won't admit that the last time he did that almost cost his life. He's still human after all.

He smirked like his usual old self. He moved with the wind and saw hazel orbs widened at his actions as Gray managed to catch Erza off guard in holding her chin up gently.

The scarlet went speechless. "See? You're so easy to take advantage just like this, Scarlet. It's because you trust me too much, too."

Then he walked away in silence, leaving a stunned scarlet; hiding a deep scowl for recalling a distant memory he doesn't want to linger into anymore.  
He hears the calling from inside the shop, and he knows that instant the redhead had left.

_She's surely pissed right now_, he thought.

* * *

Pissed? That's an understatement. Erza is beyond pissed. Just who did he think he was? She's a strong adult woman who is capable of taking care of herself and any idiot who'd dare against her. He knows that!

"Erza...are you okay?" Lucy leans in to her red-haired friend.

"Hm? Uh..Yes. I'm fine."

"Erza-san! Our regular customers are here again today!"

There at the largest table, five people waved their hands at her, "We'll take the usual, Erza-san!"

Erza's mood lifted up. She suddenly remembers why she loved this work. It's because she can give as much happiness to other people. If these kinds of people are what Gray meant, he's _so wrong._

* * *

Gray thinks it's just inevitable. He's gone through a lot enough to make him the cold-hearted human he is now. Life is unfair; people are wolves under their sheepskin.

He hopes Erza will really know that, because it's not the fact that he had just saw her accompanying their so called 'customers' that he's jealous over five random guys flirting with her scarlet; it is the fact that he knows those men, and they're not random enough in the eyes of an assassin who has memorized every person that belonged to the shadows like him. And that he knows that look on their eyes whenever Erza turns her back: the look of hunger and lust. (He wasn't a top class hitman for nothing). It's disgusting.

And you know what? No one touches what's his.

* * *

Gray doesn't come back to the flat that evening, and Erza thinks it's just not right. But she knows one thing: she wanted to give Gray her piece of mind. When he comes back... She'll definitely do that.

The next morning though, she is surprised to see their avid customers all wrapped up in bandages and looking mummified alive apologizing to her and the rest of the staff with their knees folded and begging for mercy.

"What's happening?"

"We're terribly sorry! We really didn't know it! We won't bother you again!"

"What?!" Erza inquires.

"We're sorry!" and then they ran off like headless chickens.

* * *

"Explain." Erza stands behind a raven laid back on the grass in the moonless evening. She is not usually into looking for the raven-haired man for she knew it is not needed (either he's got a business to do or something, she knows he'll be back anyway) but when it comes to that, Erza Scarlet NEVER fails to find the younger man wherever he is.

Said person didn't open his eyes, though he muttered, "So they did have the balls to apologize..."

"That's it, Gray! I've tolerated you stalking me for like everywhere I go, but I just can't have you running around doing what you want hitting every guy you think is suspicious enough because you want-" she rants.

"They're fucking yakuzas. And not just fucking yakuzas, if you must know. They're the kind of yakuzas who get what they want, and just like every other redhead, they want you to be their toy and then leave you naked in the streets when they get tired of breaking you. And don't get me started with the guy you defended earlier than that, your so called innocent photographer is a rapist and a thief in the mafia whose head costs more than what you earn; That woman you pitied a week ago was a swindler ought to fool you into selling your own shop by drugging you in that coffee. And for that old man? He's an addicted sadist who enjoys seeing women in aprons on their knees begging for him. For heaven's sake Erza Scarlet, don't push me to say a whole lot list of this bullshit because I doubt you'll ever believe in them. You told me to see the good in people, right? Fact is Erza Scarlet, it's difficult to see the good in people when you know they're not."

Gray snapped. For the first time in front of Erza, Gray actually lost his temper.

Gray stops and pants but stays silent after that, he had sat up abruptly when he blew up and turned his head towards the scarlet, glaring. But now that he's done, he lost the urge to face her and looked away instead, all the while gripping the grass around his knuckles too hard.

What difference does he make with the other people he mentioned anyway? Wasn't he the worst for being a hypocrite falling in love with an innocent woman with hands stained of other people's blood?

_'What are you doing with your life, Gray Fullbuster?_' he silently asks himself. Yeah, he's expecting a cold, menacing reply from the scarlet a moment now and all he got was empty silence.

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not in the position to say that either-I..." he tries to say.

"-Wait."

".. I know I should've known that already.-"

"No, Gray... It's not-"

"Sorry... I-" _For crying out loud, this guy never stops speaking when he's embarrassed!_

There was no other way around it: Erza shut Gray with a seal of kiss. And Gray would've slapped himself to see if he was dreaming right there and then.

Erza locked her arms around the stunned hitman's shoulders. She can't help but laugh at herself, for being worked up for nothing; for being angry at his lover for a small argument like this; for getting this far when it couldn't have been ended earlier.

"Idiot. I'm the one who's sorry. Just Tell me earlier next time, okay?" she pecks a kiss on his lover's nose. The hitman remains tongue tied in the mercy of the scarlet's charm.

No. She laughs because she thinks it's cute that HIS Gray is being so overprotective of her (and maybe even jealous for countless times), and that he never fails to worry about her.

Erza thinks Gray is cute this way. "Thank you, my guardian angel."

And Gray has never been this glad that he's once again lost in an argument with Erza who once again stole his breath away.

* * *

**A/N: SHOUTOUTS. SHOUTOUTS EVERYWHERE!** Shoutouts to **Ein011**, **LaynieCakes**, **TsundereFairy**, **bella-romeo**, and **AsDarknessSpreads**!~ Special thanks to those who made this story their favorite, and followed it!

Did you know it was my Birthday last 29th? You have no idea how you made my 15 year old self happy and gleeful! ~Hurraaaah!

Reviews are (belated) birthday gifts for me!

**Hints: What will Erza do when all was said and done? Erza tries to comfort a lost-in-the-past Gray.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Summary**: Gray finally opens up to Erza and he is troubled of what the redhead would react.

**Disclaimer**: Nu-uh. Not mine.

**Warnings**: themes of violence. Fluffy-Angst.

* * *

Winter whitened the view outside, blizzards still roaming the town. People were inside their houses, huddling near the hearth and blankets over their heads.

Its 2AM and he's barely breathing.

Gray wakes up much to his horror, bemused at the nightmare that has come to visit him. Erza is beside him, asleep and he is quite relieved.

The raven walks to the fogged windows and stops there. Stays there. He is cold so he takes a cancer stick and lights it to fill his throat. He watches each flake of snow pass his vision, settling to the piling mass of white at the sill of the window. He stares as tiny fairies from the sky fall like angels.

The memory is faint. The images were faded and gray. But he remembers.

He remembers.

Something warm radiates from his cheek and out of reflex, Gray turned his head only to find a warm cup of choco-her favorite, poked at his face. A mass of disheveled scarlet came from his view.

Gray can only mutter a soft tone of her name.

And Gray continues to watch the distance, as Erza is taking in the aroma of warm liquid.

After a while, Gray finally speaks out. "My dad was a selfless idiot. Insisted to save a couple of bastards outta their hell and never came back..." Gray sighed.

"Mom was an angel who became a bitch and tried burning us alive..." Erza tries, really tries not to react but fails horribly because this is the first time he ever spoke about his past, much less to her. And Erza can't help but a surge of anger. _Hate_.

Who the hell in their right minds burns their children alive?!

"..Elena died. The twins...Lucas, the youngest. And the eldest was left of a punishment of living."

_It was snow back then..._

"Ur took me in. No, she didn't try make me who I am now. She hated it, as a matter of fact. She didn't want me doing the same things that fed me in her shelter..."

Erza remembered Ur's name many times before; Those countless times she'd hear Gray mutter her name in sleep.

"They discovered Ur's act of betrayal as she tried avoiding us from them. Killed and thrown into the ocean... I heard." he continued, watching trail of ashes fall to his feet.

Gray can't even picture it. Ur's death.. He shouldn't have ran away. He should've died with her, too if he'd known he'd still end up being the person Ur never wanted him to be.

But he somehow found refuge on any form of water because he thinks it is Ur's will.

He became cold and distrustful because he didn't want to get attached.

He couldn't even take women seriously (except a certain redhead who slapped the truth and made him take her seriously).

He talked sarcasm because he thinks it is his turn now to make a joke to the world and not the world to joke on him.

He has a sensitive spot for children but ends up hating himself because it reminds him of his failures as an older brother.

He doesn't bother hiding his scars because it is his way of retribution.

He hates the snow because it reminds him of his failures.

And all the days, like today, he hates it. The cold. The white snow that will forever remain crimson red in his eyes: he hates it.

Eyes clouded with so much fuzzy memories resurfacing at the back of his head, Gray's body shook and trembled with so much loathe, anger, and self-despise. But tears won't- _can't_ come. He forgot how to cry.

He breathes smoke out, idly watching how it fades into the glass and out his vision.

The presence beside him made him nervous: Should he be glad that Erza is not talking, or regret everything he said because Erza is _not talking?_

The snow is falling. Still falling.

Gray takes another drag, only to be stopped by a certain hand that gently puts it away. Gray doesn't complain but the cold is biting once again.

"You're nervous." Erza stated.

"Cold." came Gray's reply which earned a flick to his forehead.

However her embrace was quite the opposite of the latter's actions. "You're nervous."

"You're not going to-" _hate me?_

"No." was Erza's firm reply, "Why would I?" she continued, this time more gently.

Eyes widened at the realization, body became numbed, feelings rushed, Gray is left speechless.

Gray has come to a conclusion: he really is an idiot. Of course he could be god-forsaken human, given how he lost his father, mother, watched his siblings die in front of him; he could be the worst coward for running away because his teacher told so, now she's dead and he's living a dammed life of bloodshed, gore and misery; he's the worst man killing-off people who were judged to burn in hell, and yet he knows he's destined to burn there, too; he's merely worth anything...

He would think no one will ever accept him.

But nooo, this woman takes the god-forsaken human in his arms; accepts the worst coward he is and never making fun of it instead; he loves the man who's a murderer and never cared how ugly, dirty, and worthless he could be.

Sometimes, Gray would think this woman, Erza Scarlet, is crazy. CRAZY BEYOND RECOGNITION. Then again, he doesn't care. It's this CRAZY BEYOND RECOGNITION woman that loves him, Gray Fullbuster who doesn't deserve even a tinge of appreciation.

He said he forgot how to cry. He said that, and yet Gray finds himself sobbing into the arms of Erza who willingly accepts everything while holding what's left of the ground Gray is struggling with.

Gray cried that night, for the third time while the snow fell outside their home. But this time, unlike the latter, he cries not of loss or grief but of overwhelming feelings for acceptance, appreciation, and love.

And Erza lets him, glad that under this cold season, she is able to break the curse that brings the latter such bitter memories; glad that for once, Gray cries for an entirely different reason than the ones he had years ago.

* * *

**A/N:** Wahaaa. I got lost in the real world where monsters are called "school works" and "Tests". It almost are me alive, y'know. Geez. Aren't they like Titans? Yaegaaah!

Anyways, I hope you like this. SHOUTOUTS! **AsDarknessSpreads, TsundereFairy, LaynieCakes, bella-romeo!~**

review?

**P.S. IM ACCEPTING PROMPTS RELATED TO THE STORY.**

**Next chapter hint:** Baby-sitting with a hitman is not as it seems.


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